Broken Bonnet Release

[hellotherejack]

Hey Guys.

Went to change my standard sidlights tonight to some bright leds and when i pulled the bonnet release handle i got zilch response!

luckily i was at a friends house and he managed to open my bonnet by loosening the front grill and using on an old wire coat hanger to pull on the required wire inside to activate the release for the lock.

i know nothing about cars but when u pull the release handle and look through the grill the wire flexes so looks like it hasnt snapped at the handle side - but the release mechanism doesnt even flinch so it could be something at that end??

checked the oil, topped up the screen wash - installed the new side lights - Great i thought i'll take the car to the garage at end of the mon when payday arrives

just as my friend closed the boot the sidelights went out and now only come on for about 2 seconds when youve switched from main headlight to sidelight then go out - plus the wanring lamp for the bulbs and error message on the dash tell you the lights are defective,

im sure it must be something simple like a connection came lose when the bonnet was closed - although without getting under the hood again im stumped to find out

has anyone got a quicker way of getting the bonnet unlocked for a novice like me - as my mate is unable to spend the time on it for a while.

ps im not into stealing... this is only for my own car 

due to the nature of my question any expert advice is maybe best PM'd to me so the less innocent individuals out there dont see this an oppurtunity to go on the prowl for your mk5's!

many thanks in advance guys

cheers.

[Norbreck21a]

Can't help much with the bonnet, but I assume you have fitted LED sidelights ? If so, they need to be CAN bus friendly. As a standard glass filament lamp draws more load than an LED lamp, the cars bulb out monitoring system detects the low load on the LED's as a bulb failure and switches off the circuit. CAN bus friendly lamps have a resistor built into them to simulate the additional load and fool the system.

Andrew

[McKay88]

Yep what Norbreck21a said. You will need LED resistors i got mine from ebay since they are pretty cheap..... As for the bonnet release then id suggest if no one has pm'd you id go to a bodyshop and have them look at it. It may just be a case of reconnecting the wire that runs up to the bonnet catch...

Hope this helps a little....

[hellotherejack]

Thanks guys - i bought the LED's from HID Direct - a friend who has A TDI has the same ones and has never had any bother.

But it sounds like you guys have diagnosed the prob correctly thanks - so  ive just bought a resistor pack online there-   i should get them over the next few days and once their fitted i'll be back with an update

on the understanding that i can actually get under the hood! 

cheers again folks - be back with the update asap.

jack.